Heisenberg's Metaphysical Principle

Conversations keep turning towards prayer for me. Whether active blessing, passive meditation, or the broader concepts of morality and good vs. evil, lately its felt like there is an invisible campfire between each person I talk with... and deep discussion flows like spirits at an open bar.

One concept that has been niggling me for some time is the idea that observation or perception changes reality. I remember in high school physics learning about Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and how at the atomic level one cannot know BOTH the precise location AND direction of an elementary particle at any given time.

The act of observing inherently changes the location and the trajectory of that which is being observed, and that which does the observing.

That second part seems to be the most relevant to me. Not just at the nanoscale, but in the realm of the macrocosm as well. Not only do we change things with our perception of them, but we are also changed by that observation. I think this principle applies to us in our everyday activities, but at a deeper, more subtle level than can be explained by a trite "law" or rule.

Now, a rational skeptic could (and sometimes does) say that this is all wild extrapolation, that Heisenberg was describing photons and imaginary microscopes. One could justifiably state that its inherently flawed to use subatomic rules to describe human scaled experiences, and vice versa.

But that doesn't jibe with my own experience. I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but from my perspective I am being fundamentally changed on some level by every observation I make, and so is everybody I know. When I think about someone in a certain way, that determines not just my present opinion of them, but flavors our future interactions, as well as my memories of their past. The same goes for objects and other living things.

Our thoughts, our perception, actively shape our reality. There is a HUGE quantity of information out there that constitutes "reality": what is happening and has happened.

Only an infinitesimal portion of that reality is interacting with us at any given moment. Our cognitive faculties and sensory organs can only process a tiny fraction of the data of a given experience to boot:

Our eyes can only see so much of the visible spectrum (less if we're colorblind!), and our optical lenses focus our attention on just a tiny window of reality at any given time.

Our eardrums can only resonate so many frequencies at a given time, and our brain only chooses to perceive or record a handful of memorable sounds or words per day.

Our noses can't come close to the precision of a shark or a dog, do we even remember to use them most of the time? Odors almost have to beat us over the head to register, like the smell of a fresh pie cooling on a windowsill or the gag we reflexively feel when the smell of something nasty floats our way on the breeze. Most smells just don't cut it, and fall on deaf ears (er... noses). Can you even remember what most people or things in your life smell like? If you can, you're better than me.

Taste is a sensation we scarcely exercise anymore. Recent reports have described how people are in such a rush they don't even bother tasting the food they're shoving down their gullets, and most of our food is bred for looks and to keep from rotting instead of delighting the tastebuds. But even if you make sure to taste every bite, you're really only tasting for the few minutes of each day that you're eating. The rest of the time our taste-buds languish in obscurity.

Touch is used even less! We have huge bundles of nerves on our fingertips, hands, and bottoms of feet, and a massive web of subdermal receptors across every inch of skin, yet how often to we actively perceive or use our sense of touch?

One recent study found that Westerners, and in particular Americans, are emotionally malnourished due to being tragically under-touched, and at a primal level we yearn for more intimate interactions in our daily lives. When was the last time you really caressed a smooth or hairy object, or felt the earth under your feet as your skin absorbed the concentrated anti-depressants present in all healthy soil?

I think its safe to say that our monkey-brains, our reptilian awareness, our active consciousness is constantly filtering everything we experience. AGGRESSIVELY filtering. And we permanently record even less of what we actually experience, at least beyond the subconscious level.

So when we take the time to consciously perceive something or someone, to think about it, to even go so far as to bless or to curse it, then we are at the very least changing it on the level of our own personal memories and future interactions. Metaphysicists would argue that you are also sending out a vibration, a frequency, that DOES create some sort of impact on the object of your intention. But even if they're just a bunch of new-age kooks (and not all of them are), at the very least we're modifying that thing or person in our own personal reality.

But more so than changing that thing, we're changing ourselves. We're rewiring our brains, we're integrating a thought, we're reinforcing a tendency, an emotion, a pattern. The impact we have with our intentions on other things is debatable.

The impact we have on ourselves is not.

So think about that next time you get moralistic, or self righteous.

"That guy is a jerk."
"This thing is bad."
"Those people are evil."
etc. etc.

Each time you curse someone or something, you're integrating shittiness. You're solidifying a negative reaction you have to something, and rewiring your brain to think poorly about it.

Burning thoughts and intentions into reality

You're changing the past, by creating a bad memory.

You're changing the present, by wasting a precious moment on echoing something you don't even like.

You're changing the future, by setting the stage for negative interactions with the object of your disdain.

Cursing things is fundamentally self-damaging. And that's even if you ignore that you're also changing that person or thing with your critical observation. Maybe you're shooting a bad vibration their way. Maybe they DO get a zit or a nervous tick or don't get promoted due to the power of your negative juju. Or maybe you just prevent them from modifying their behavior, from discovering their highest self, from finding their true calling and living a life of service to you and others.

By cursing them, you've limited our shared reality into a realm of non-possibility. You've cursed yourself not to learn from a situation, and you've recabled precious neurons in your long-term memory with something that you don't resonate with (but now take with you everywhere you go).

A friend asked me about a year ago what to do if his family was cursed. He thought one of his ancestors had been a witch or something, and that her evil-eye was still influencing him to this very day. Why is he so miserable? Why does he keep getting into fights? Why can't his family get ahead? It must be a curse, its so all-encompassing.

He especially worried that it would pass on to his children.

I thought about his predicament. Whether its true or not that his ancestors cursed him, he is not actually at their mercy (or lack thereof). He is incredibly empowered in the now, but he doesn't realize it.

He repeats their curse, whether it ever actually was uttered or not.

He echoes it when he gets angry or in a fight.

He parrots it when he uses it in arguments.

He passes it on to his children when he acts negatively around them.

So the last thing he should do, if he wants to undo the curse, is believe in it. Repeat it. Or try to pawn it off on people who upset him, or situations that don't go his way.

Curses only have power when we integrate and repeat them. But when we do, they screw up the past, present, and future.

Ignoring it isn't the answer though. Just pretending like nothing bad has ever happened, is happening, or will happen is like an ostrich putting its head in the sand. It doesn't really change anything, it just creates an illusion of okay-ness.

My friend CAN undo the curse by blessing. Praying for his ancestors, that their souls may find peace, or heaven, or nirvana, or whatever afterlife he believes in. Praying for himself, for his wife, for his children. Blessing the people he interacts with, the situations he finds himself in, the earth under his feet, and the stars above. Blessing the future, that it may be full of opportunities and abundance.

And then repeating those blessings. Sharing them with people. Sharing them with his family, with his friends, with his children.

At the very least the blessing will create a positive memory of the past. Now he has a blessed ancestor finding heaven, not a cursed witch in his past.

In the present moment, that blessing will make him feel good. Will make the things happening at worst lessons, at best opportunities. Will possibly send out that good vibration, that frequency that attracts more good things into your life.

And it changes the future. Especially if you share it. Instead of his kids remembering him cursing that guy he fought, they'll remember how they prayed for him later. They'll remember how they blessed their food before every meal, how they prayed for their ancestors and for the earth. They'll echo those prayers and share them with their families in the future. Sharing a prayer or a blessing fundamentally changes the future for the better.

But even just doing it yourself changes everything. Perception=thoughts=prayer. And prayer changes your past, your present, and your future.

That's alot of power each of us has at our fingertips. There aren't many things that can change the past or the future, and yet every moment of every day we have the ability to profoundly alter them just by thinking or saying a blessing.

So next time something happens that you don't agree with, that you think is wrong, or evil, or even reprehensible, think twice before you curse it with your thoughts or with your words.

I guarantee it will backfire.

Instead, bless it, and yourself in the process. You're creating a better past, present, and future every time you do.